Sound of Music
by Kaudrey
Summary: When Harhui returns to music room 3 after club hours to retrieve a forgotten mathbook, she's quite surprised to find a certain Hitatchiin twin there as well. And he's playing the piano? (HaruhixHikaru.)


**I do not own Ouran High School Host Club.**

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Haruhi stopped when she heard the sound of a piano playing through the doors of the music room. She furrowed her eyebrows. It was three hours after school ended. Two hours after the Host Club meeting for the day ended. There shouldn't be anyone in the music room right now. Who would be playing piano at such a time? Who did she know who played the piano at all? Then it came to her- of course! It must be Tamaki. He was the only person she could think of who played the piano so well. But what was he doing at school so late?

_Great. Now I'll have to put up with him and I'll probably never get to leave. All I came for was my mathbook that I forgot._

Letting out a sigh, Haruhi pushed the door to the not-so-abandoned music room 3, but stopped when she saw who at at the piano. It was Hikaru? Haruhi blinked to make sure that she was seeing right- no, it was definitely Hikaru. His orange hair was pretty hard to mistake. He'd changed out of his school uniform, and now wore a pale blue sweatshirt and some simple shorts.

He was facing away from her, and he had headphones on his ears so it seemed like he hadn't noticed or heard her walk in yet. Haruhi tried to detect any sign that he wasn't actually playing the piano at all, but she found none. Quietly, she closed the door behind her so she wouldn't desturb him. Then she listened.

It was soft. Peaceful. Not something she'd expect from Hikaru. Each note fit in perfectly with the next, they blended together so elegantly that Haruhi almost wanted to sway along to the music. She'd never heard the song before. It wasn't anything like why she'd heard Tamaki playing. It was- hell, she didn't have any other word for it- beautiful. Then there was an ugly sort of noise, as Hikaru smashed the keys with his hands. "Dammit!" She heard him mutter under his breath, then she watched as he took off his headphones and pulled a pencil from his ear, where she could only assume he had been keeping it tucked away there for safe keeping.

Haruhi burst into applause, and there was another ugly noise as he jumped and slammed his hand down in surprise.

"That was so good Hikaru, I didn't know you could play the piano!" Haruhi praised, still clapping. The twin in question whirled around at the voice- he didn't look too thrilled about the fact that she had heard him playing.

"Haruhi!" He said, obviously taken back. "What are you doing here?" Finally, she stopped clapping.

"I forgot my mathbook so I came by to grab it. I didn't realize anyone would be in here." She explained, sliding next to him on the piano bench. "You were really good Hikaru. How long have you been playing?" She asked, looking from Hikaru to the grand piano. He turned around with a bit of a shrug, but was obviously a bit embarrassed about the fact that someone had caught him playing.

"Since I was about five years old." He admitted, in a bit of a mutter as he picked up the pencil that he'd dropped.

"Really? Does Kaoru play, too?" She asked innocently. Hikaru glanced at her.

"No. We had a Nanny who taught us both how to play, but after she left Kaoru dropped it. I kept at it, though. Guess I liked the music." He said with a bit of a shrug. Though, that was only one of the reasons. There were two other reasons why he'd kept at it- one of them being that it was the one thing that he had that his brother didn't. Something that was completely and entirely his.

"Huh." Haruhi muttered softly. She watched as he took the pencil and erased a couple of notes from the music sheet in front of them.

"You write music, too?" She asked, eyebrows going up. Playing music was one thing, but writing?

"It's called composing," he corrected. "Er- yeah. Helps me get my mind off things, get things off my chest that I can't really say out loud."

Haruhi wasn't sure why he was suddenly being so open about things to her, but she decided she liked it. It was a new side of Hikaru that she'd never seen before. Now she could understand why he liked the music- Hikaru wasn't exactly the most open of people when it came to his emotions. Music was an escape for that, she thought.

"So what you were playing just a moment ago- did you write that?" She asked. Hikaru gave a small -albeit hesitant- nod.

"I'm still working on it. I can't seem to get the ending right." He said, glancing back to the music sheet.

"Well I thought it was beautiful. Better then Tamaki's playing, even." Said Haruhi, and Hikaru let out a bit of a scoff.

"Yeah right. I'm no master or anything, it's just something I do when something's on my mind or I have spare time." But Haruhi noticed the hint of red on his cheeks- apparently he wasn't used to people complimenting his work.

"Whatever you say, Hikaru." She said with a small shake of her head. He paused at the implication of his words.

"Is something bothering you now, Hikaru? Is that why you're playing?"

"No." He said, probably a bit too quickly, and Haruhi noticed that he'd suddenly lost eye contact.

"Come on, Hikaru. You can tell me anything, you know." She said, concern in her voice.

"I know. Nothin' is bothering me, that's all." But Haruhi couldn't help but notice the red was back on his cheeks. She didn't believe him. Briefly, she wondered what could have been bothering him. Was it something about Kaoru? No, she doubted that. The two seemed fine earlier. Unless- she remembered the soft, gentle piano music that was so unlike Hikaru. She noticed the red on his cheeks.

"You're in _love_?"

Hikaru was quick to respond. "Don't be ridiculous, Haruhi. You've forgotten who you're talking to."

"Right. What's her name then?" She asked curiously, trying to sound nonchalant about it.

Hikaru was silent for a moment. He blinked at Haruhi, and then glanced away. "Y-you wouldn't know her. A family friend."

Haruhi was, admittedly, a little bit shocked at his sudden confession that he actually did love somebody. Well, somebody that wasn't Kaoru, anyway. If either of the twins were to fall in love, she'd always thought it would be Kaoru. He always seemed more... Up to it then Hikaru did.

"Does she know?" She asked, again still trying to sound as nonchalant about it as she could. "Does Kaoru?"

"I haven't exactly told Kaoru, but he's probably figured it out by himself by now." Said Hikaru. Haruhi noticed he seemed to have a certain nervous aura about him that he hadn't had before. Like he was hiding something. But Haruhi, while curious, was not going to push it. "As for the girl- no. No she doesn't."

"Why not?" She asked, though she had a funny feeling she knew why not. Hikaru wasn't the best at saying what he was really thinking when it came to his emotions.

Hikaru gave a bit of a shrug. "'Cause there's no way she'll ever feel the same way about me. 'Sides, I think she likes someone else so there isn't any point in even trying."

Haruhi noticed how he wasn't facing her anymore, but rather he was facing the piano. He seemed to have suddenly become very interested in the music sheet. While Haruhi could tell that he was trying to sound casual about it, like it didn't matter to him whether or not this mystery girl loved someone else, Haruhi could see through him.

"Hm. Well, I think she's missing out if she does." Said Haruhi, she hadn't really meant to say it out loud, but it was too late to take it back now.

This comment seemed to finally get Hikaru's attention, and he glanced over to her. "Really?"

"Well, yeah. I mean- you're a great person, Hikaru. Any girl would be lucky to have you as their boyfriend." Haruhi shrugged to add to the effect of trying to sound nonchalant.

He stared at her a moment. "You think so?" She nodded. His gaze returned to the piano, apparently now in thought.

"I do," she said with a bit of a nod. She checked her wristwatch. "Anyway, I better get going before dad starts to worry. See you tomorrow, Hikaru. And good luck with that girl." Haruhi stood up off the piano bench and grabbed her matchbook from a nearby table. When she had just reached the door, she heard someone call out to her.

"Wait- Haruhi?"

"Yes?" She asked, turning around.

It seemed, for a moment, that Hikaru was going to say something different. But apparently he ultimately decided against it. "...Thanks."

"You're welcome," she said, then walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

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**I think I'm more proud of this one then the last one that I posted yesterday. Though I feel Hikaru is slightly OOC. I tried best to not make him OOC, but it was sort of hard with the situation. Let me know what you think of the story, please!**


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